Chương 44: Class Upgrade

Meno checked the Rune Spire before anything else and found it sitting at ten percent durability. Ten. He stared at the number for a long second, then looked at the nearly man-sized blade in his hand. The charmsteel edge had gone pale and rough near the tip, rune grooves dimmed from abuse, but it still existed. Maximum durability had saved it. Anything less than a perfect craft would have snapped somewhere between Chain 700 and the Page finally deciding to die.

"That was close," he said. close??? 10% weapon after one trash mob raid trash btw repair before breathing legendary gloves tho show titan Meno opened the Titan III notification because the stream deserved something before he had to think about class evolution. [Achievement Acquired: Titan III] You defeated a Threat??? enemy solo before Level 30. Account Reward Unlocked: Mythic I Design Credit One AI-assisted mythic item design session is now available. This reward is account-bound.

It is not an item and cannot be traded, sold, dropped, or looted. Abuse will result in account termination. The session creates a design only, not the finished item. Meno's excitement died so fast it left a chalk outline.

"Oh. This thing again." MYTHIC CREDIT donate design 50k credits whisp me make wife ring make brine leash name it after me Meno closed the panel halfway, stopped, and opened it again like the text might have changed into something useful while he blinked. It had not.

"I hate this reward," he said.

"Every time I get one, it brings me nothing but trouble." The chat loved that because chat had no stake in his account surviving.

"Can I trade this for the bug-finder T-shirt?" Meno asked.

"Or a hoodie? Feltforge merch. Founder mug. Anything. I'll take a sticker that says I helped improve immersive limitless gameplay by getting exploded." BRINESAINT WATCHING BRINESAINT IS HERE MATHHUSBAND IN CHAT??? DON'T CHOKE say something to him CALL HIM OUT Meno glanced at the spam, and for a second the old reflex rose. Some stupid line. Something about efficiency being cute. Something that would clip well, spread fast, and turn the moment into a victory pose for the internet. He did not say it.

BrineSaint was legit. Annoying, rigid, probably allergic to joy, but legit. The man had looked at a Sleepwalker counter matchup and kept pulling until the data stopped paying. They disagreed on almost everything that mattered, but Meno knew skill when he saw it.

"Good," Meno said instead.

"Let him watch." That was enough. Chat made the arrogance for him. His viewer count sat above six hundred thousand, still climbing in ugly little jumps, when the Meta Desk spam started. META DESK CALLED YOU BEST PLAYER UNMATCHED SOLO OPEN IT SERA COOKING OPEN DESK COWARD Meno resisted for maybe six seconds before curiosity won, because curiosity had better burst damage than discipline. He opened a stream overlay in the corner of his vision.

The Meta Desk appeared with studio lights, clean graphics, and the kind of expensive calm that made Meno feel underdressed inside his own avatar. Behind Sera Voss and Mina Calde, his raid clip played from a floating angle polished into something cinematic. It was almost thirty minutes long, which meant they had found a way to turn his suffering into premium programming.

"Do they pay me for this?" Meno muttered.

"Feels like they should pay me for this." Sera's voice carried over the platform wind.

"—clearly PrayerBeadGod deserves to be in the conversation. He consistently performs no-hit runs against impossible enemies, and this Lost Temple kill is the cleanest evidence yet." Mina leaned forward, hands folded.

"On pure mechanical skill and body control, he might be unmatched. I agree there. But Veyrath is not designed as a solo game. It's a little unfair to healers, tanks, shot-callers, and guild leaders if we score only visible DPS execution." Sera did not blink.

"I don't think that distinction matters here. His class scales, yes, but without his ability to find 'clever use of game mechanics' angles and develop complex strategies under pressure, the scaling would never matter. If you compare him to BrineSaint, who thrives on efficiency, I would never score BrineSaint higher on raw playmaking even if PrayerBeadGod is less efficient overall." Meno's mouth twitched despite himself.

Mina pointed toward the clip, where his avatar dropped the Morgra Ritual Stand under his own feet and stabbed the Page from the top of it.

"Look at that sequence. He called it stool tech, which is ridiculous, but it is also something else. He's simultaneously kiting, checking a shifting floor pattern, attacking without missing, managing a rule-based curse cycle, and deploying three-dimensional movement with an inventory object." Sera nodded.

"The only other player I would put near him on a skill-by-skill basis is Karmabeast. He's lower level mostly because he's a PvP specialist and does not care about the ladder, but nobody has defeated him on stream yet. He even killed JaxxonVale live while fifteen levels down." Mina lifted a hand.

"I would add Arayu into the conversation. Karmabeast's rogue class is incredibly powerful in PvP, but Arayu is a mage with a much weaker opener. Her movement is probably worse, yes, but her spell selection is flawless. She killed a full party of top-fifty players solo while ten levels lower."

"Those players were terrible in PvP," Sera said, dry enough to cut glass.

"I would still put Karmabeast above her. But regardless, none of this changes the PvE point. In solo PvE, PrayerBeadGod has demonstrated something unmatched." Meno closed the overlay before unmatched got anywhere near his ego. unmatched UNMATCHED SAY IT SAY THE LINE Karmabeast said he is ganking you KARMABEAST CALLED NEXT PvP incoming Meno looked at chat, then at the raid gate, then down at the ruined edge of his Rune Spire.

"Look, guys," he said.

"It's nothing special. You just get into the raid and kill the thing. That's all." Chat exploded like he had given them religion. nothing special btw just kill raid trash at 29 unmatched humility marry me Arayu STOOLGOD ASCENDED Karmabeast please humble him he can't keep getting away with it Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. Meno let it roll for a few seconds, because he was happy and tired and the line felt better than he deserved.

Then he opened the class evolution prompt and stopped before revealing it.

"Okay," he said.

"Time for class evolution." The overlay became unreadable. SHOW OPTIONS DO IT show it coward BrineSaint watching your clip pick wrong for content Meno held up one hand.

"Before I show the options, open Aurelia's stream. Someone spam the link. Give her a follow. I'm not showing anything until she hits one hundred thousand followers." For half a second, the chat seemed to forget language. NO FREE US WIFE TAX SIMPGOD do it boys link link link Meno did not care. He opened her stream page through the platform interface, keeping the video collapsed so he could see only the follower count. He did not look at the stream itself.

He did not need to watch her fight boars or Heavy Striker her way through pain. He had already broken the rule once. Sub-one-thousand followers. Then the number started moving fast. Meno's body noticed the exhaustion while he waited. The half-hour Page fight had taken more out of him than the kill notices admitted. His hands felt heavy. His shoulders ached. His eyes had that dry, thin feeling that came after staring at too many dangerous shapes for too long.

The happiness made room for the fatigue, like his body had been waiting for permission. He walked over to Kaerthalan while the count climbed. The Ashen Crown Dragon still slept near the edge of the platform, massive body curled beside the archmages.

"I killed a book inside the raid," Meno told the dragon. Kaerthalan opened one molten eye and sniffed him once.

"Give me another apple." The dragon waited. Meno pulled an apple from inventory and threw it, and Kaerthalan caught it with no visible effort, crunched once, and went back to sleep. Meno stared.

"You are unbelievable." dragon snack tax apple tribute confirmed feed it the stand try blueberry juice throw stool Meno checked Aurelia's follower count. 27, 418.

"Already twenty-seven thousand," he said.

"Having half a million people around makes things easier. Who knew?" He lifted the Rune Spire for the stream while the follower count kept climbing.

"Also, market update. I designed this. Charmsteel Rune Spire. If you want one, whisper Bradbaron. He has four for sale, and you can leave crafting orders with him too. It's only Uncommon II, but it cleanses debuffs after twenty consecutive hits, which is extremely useful." sellout ONLY UNCOMMON II??? normal players using rusty butter knives Bradbaron ad read merchant sponsor arc does this count as guild recruitment WifeLawyer stocks up"It's not an ad," Meno said.

"It's me making gold while avoiding people." The follower count hit 72, 009. Meno watched it climb, then looked toward the Lost Temple gate. He knew he should not say the next part. Saying it would make the AI notice. Feltforge staff might start closing the loophole before he even tried it. He said it anyway.

"If anyone from Feltforge Systems is watching, I'm pretty sure I can kill the first boss." The platform chat, stream chat, and his own survival instinct all reacted at once. Meno kept going before the noise swallowed him.

"It's probably unethical. So if you have an issue with it, send me a message in-game now instead of banning me later. This is free bug testing." QA GOD HE WARNED THEM LEGAL DISCLAIMER first boss???? AI DIRECTOR TYPING BeadGuard speedrun banned soon Feltforge pls respond patch stool tech Meno checked Aurelia's follower count again. 101, 336.

"Okay," he said, and closed the tab.

"Done." His hand hovered over the evolution panel. For the first time since the Page died, his heart started beating like a fight had begun.

"Here it is." [Class Evolution Available] All options retain the core Swing Master kit. Choose one evolution path. [Option 1: Skybound Striker] Evolves Swing Master toward aerial combat and movement chaining. Landing two airborne hits in a row grants one additional air-step. Base jump distance increased by 50%. Airborne hits deal 75% more damage. Grounded hits deal 75% less damage. Chat screamed before he finished reading.

SKY SKY DRAGON BUILD PICK IT WINGS ASCEND grounded penalty huge no ground no problem Meno swallowed.

"That is disgusting and beautiful," he said.

"Extra air-step every two airborne hits? With this stupid pole-sword? That's at least two more kicks per jump if I keep tagging something. Base jump distance up fifty percent. Airborne hits seventy-five percent more." He touched the grounded penalty line with one finger.

"Grounded hits deal seventy-five percent less. That's nasty. Real nasty. It forces the whole build into air uptime. Tight corridors, low ceilings, silence zones, anti-jump curses. Any fight like that turns me into zero DPS." He moved to the next option. [Option 2: Last-Life Reaver] Evolves Swing Master toward low-HP pressure and lethal chain conversion. While below 20% HP, each chain stack grants +15% damage instead of +10%. While at 1 HP, each chain stack grants +20% damage instead of +10%.

Last Breath: At 1 HP, fatal damage is absorbed once per combat and grants a shield equal to 50% of your maximum HP. Healing has no effect at 1 HP in combat. The chat changed religions instantly. REAVER 1 HP GOD Panic Pump synergy this is literally you cheat death PICK REAVER damage brain wins Meno exhaled through his nose.

"That's insane. Panic Pump sets me to one HP immediately, so I can force the twenty-percent condition whenever. At one HP, every stack is double value. Chain 100 is basically Chain 200. Chain 1000 becomes Chain 2000. Last Breath is a cheat death, once per combat, and gives shield. That's absurd." He frowned at the last line.

"Healing does nothing at one HP. Still probably worth it. Pure murder math." [Option 3: Swing Master — Titan Variant] Enhances the existing Swing Master path. Unbounded Chain causes weapon hits to grant +2 chain stacks instead of +1. Hundredfold Cleave now launches your next weapon swing as a medium-range projectile; if it hits, the attack cleaves all hostile targets in range of the impact. Damage scales with Compound Swing stacks. Breaks the Chain after launch. Requires Chain 100+.

Panic Pump may be reused in combat after your chain breaks. False Wings grants 20% maxHP as shield while airborne. The shield ends when you land and can activate once per jump. Meno stopped talking. The stream did not. TITAN PROJECTILE CLEAVE DOUBLE STACKS panic pump reset false wings shield THIS ONE ACTUAL BUILD Meno read it again. It looked less flashy than the other two at first glance. Skybound had flight fantasy. Last-Life had huge one-HP damage and a cheat death.

Titan Variant just enhanced what he already had. That was why it scared him.

"Two stacks per hit," Meno said slowly.

"That's not a small buff. That doubles ramp. Every long chain gets stupid twice as fast." His eyes moved to Hundredfold Cleave.

"Projectile cleave. Medium range. Next weapon swing launches out. If it hits, cleaves all hostile targets mid range. Damage scales with stacks. Breaks the chain after launch." He could feel it already: a ranged answer for enemies he could not stand beside, a way to make Hundredfold matter, a way to fire the stored chain into a pack, a boss add, a caster, anything that wanted him dead from across the room.

"Panic Pump may be reused in combat after your chain breaks." Meno's mouth went dry.

"That's huge." panic pump turret AOE machine gun 1 HP artillery projectile cleave spam he sees it he sees it He did. Pop Panic Pump. Chain 100. Fire Hundredfold projectile. Chain breaks. Panic Pump becomes reusable. Pop again. Fire again. Chain break. Repeat as long as one HP did not become a memorial.

"Chain cleave from range," Meno said.

"Not free. Still one HP. Still breaks chain. But with False Wings giving twenty percent max HP shield while airborne, I can jump, get shield, fire from the air, land, reposition, do it again. The shield helps with chip damage, floor pulses, breath fields, tiny nonsense that usually ruins zero HP builds." Meno looked at all three options together and wanted all of them. Skybound Striker was the dream. Last-Life Reaver was the murder engine. Titan Variant was the toolkit. He could not decide. His phone-link pulsed.

Meno was too stunlocked by options to defend himself from his own hand. He opened it under a privacy filter. Aureliana: <3 His thoughts stopped so completely that the raid platform seemed quieter.

"She sent a heart?" he muttered.

"Why?" The words came out loud enough for six hundred thousand people. Chat connected the dots instantly. SHE SENT HEART WIFE HEART PICK LOVE CLASS SHE SAW FOLLOWERS MENO MALFUNCTION BRO TOOK THE BAIT Meno's face heated. Then memory corrected him with the worst possible timing. He had sent her the heart first, as a joke after naming a mythic necklace Marielle's Little Aureliana. A stupid little heart.

She was probably throwing it back at him because he had just shoved one hundred thousand followers into her stream like a lunatic with no boundaries. Of course it meant nothing. Meno deflated so visibly even Kaerthalan opened one eye by a fraction, then decided the collapse was not worth waking for.

"Never mind," Meno said. heart damage critical hit he went from Titan to sad pick option 4: therapy Meno closed the phone-link, returned to the class evolution panel, and stared at the three options again. He tightened his grip on the damaged Rune Spire and tried to make the answer become obvious. It did not.

"What to choose," he muttered. Meno stood there, Level 34, with a legendary pair of cloth gloves in his inventory, one more mythic design credit waiting to ruin his life, and no idea which version of himself would survive the next pull.